As the year nears its end, the economy’s work force is bumping along like the economy itself with little growth.

Economists called November’s 146,000 added jobs mostly more of the same — a lackluster struggle to climb out of a long jobless ditch.

“The numbers are not much different than they’ve been all year,” said economist John Canally, investment chief at LPL Financial. “It’s a non-event.”

The monthly US Bureau of Labor Statistics report yesterday was better than the meager growth that Wall Street analysts had calculated as they attempted to gauge the disruptions from superstorm Sandy.

The unemployment rate, calculated in a separate survey, dipped to 7.7 percent from 7.9 percent, a nearly four-year low.

The divergence from the tepid jobs report caused conflicted readings to spread among many market-watchers.

“The unemployment rate is down, but for all the wrong reasons,” said economist Jonathan Basile at Credit Suisse.

“It’s at the lowest level since December 2008. This is good for consumer confidence, but the details are disappointing.”

The dip came because 540,000 people stopped hunting for work and were dropped from jobless rolls in November, at least temporarily.

“The number of people not at work due to bad weather was 369,000 in the household survey — the highest for any November on record. These people, however, are still counted as employed during the month,” said Basile.

Meanwhile, one ray of good news in the data showed that Americans 55 to 69 years old are holding onto more jobs for longer periods than any other Americans.

The grayer set added 4 million jobs since the depths of the recession in January 2009, while workers aged 20-to-24 suffered essentially flat growth. Employees aged 25-to-54 lost ground, with more than 1 million losing their jobs.

Those 16-to-19 years old are faring the worst, seeing about 2.6 million of their peers lose jobs.

“Older employees are staying in their jobs longer,” said economist Jim Borbely of the US Bureau of Labor Statistics.

“In a bad economy, employers rely on them, and find them more desirable because of their experience and loyalty.”

“Younger workers can’t compete well against these more experienced people,” Borbely said.

Overall, 12 million Americans were unemployed in the month of November, around 230,000 fewer than in the previous month.

The jobless ranks have remained swollen since the recession officially started in December of 2007, when 7.6 million individuals were out of work.

The strongest payroll gains in November came in retailing, with 53,000 new hires, followed by 43,000 in professional and business services.